


Nothing Ventured

by alamorn



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F, First Time, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:53:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13661307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alamorn/pseuds/alamorn
Summary: Inara doesn't service crew. Except when she does.





	Nothing Ventured

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/gifts).



Inara startled when she turned to find River hovering in the door of her shuttle. It was almost back to the way it had been before she had left, and River looked like just another part of the decorations, draped and flowing and soft, with her hair loose and her skirt swirling around her knees.

"River," she said, hiding her surprise. "Can I help you?"

River moved into the shuttle, running the tips of her fingers over the new silks Inara had hung. "Should I hire you directly or go through your agency?" she asked.

Inara felt her eyebrows go up, and she put down the comp-pad she'd been using, and turned to her tea set. The client set, though perhaps that wasn't the impression she wanted to give. "You know I don't service crew," she said. And thought, _you should know better than to ask_.

"Nothing ventured," River said, and finally looked at her. "And besides, I'm not like them. I want to hire you for a purpose."

"All my clients hire me for a purpose," Inara said.

" _Sex_ ," River scoffed, looking very young suddenly, her face scrunched up with disgust. Her face smoothed and she was herself again. She looked down, then back up. "They're all inside me," she said. She didn't elaborate, and didn't need to. _They_ were always the dead. River's dead, Pax's dead, all the dead in the entire galaxy, crowded into her head and trying to get out. Inara had seen her screaming their pain often enough that there was no possibility for confusion.

River took a graceful seat at Inara's tea table. "I'd like something nicer inside me, too. You."

"Metaphorically, or…?"

River made a face at her again. "I watched some of Jayne's porn," she said, and Inara's Companion composure cracked.

"That was…an awful idea," she said.

River ignored her. "I want to hire you to put your entire hand in me. There will be no room for anything else."

"River," Inara said carefully. "Have you ever actually had sex before?"

"No."

"That's what I thought. I'm not fisting you. Jayne's porn…" She tried to think of a delicate way to put it and failed. "Has nothing to do with what sex is actually like."

"But you will let me hire you?"

"Will you stay out of my head while I consider it?"

River tilted her head. "When will you tell them?"

The teapot whistled and Inara mixed in the matcha. She mastered her voice, and said, "What did I just say?"

River just stared, with her huge eyes. "You shouldn't be so quiet outside. It makes the inside louder."

"You're turning a _maybe_ into a _no_ ," Inara said, and took a sip of her tea. It wasn't done steeping, and it was still far too hot, but she took comfort in the ritual of it.

River stood without touching any of her own tea. "I can pay. I stole Jayne's take."

Inara had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. "I've heard Jayne's name more than I like to, in a client interview."

River nodded solemnly. "I've made a mistake. I'll try again and do it better."

"No need," Inara said, finding her mind made up. "You can hire me directly. I'll give you a discount, if you give Jayne his money back."

River shook her head. "Full price," she said. "It's a symbol."

"If that's what you want. Come back tomorrow, after you've set the course."

River nodded, and was gone.

She was back the next day, when the engines were humming calmly along under auto-pilot. This time, she drank the tea.

Inara took it slow, even slower than she took most of her first times. River had been right -- she wasn't like anyone else, not Inara's clients, not the _Serenity'_ s crew. So Inara went slow, with the tea ceremony, with the conversation, and then, when she kissed River, she went slow there, too.

River gasped under the brush of her lips, her muscles tightening under Inara's hand. Then she relaxed, deliberately, one muscle at a time, until she was melting into Inara, one hand tentatively sliding up into Inara's hair.

"Your lips are soft," she said, when Inara pulled back.

"So are yours," Inara responded.

In the end, Inara did not put her entire hand in River, but filled her up just the same. And when River trembled over the edge, she said, " _Oh_ ," looking out with clear eyes, and, Inara could fancy, not a thought in her head.

"Did that achieve your purpose?" Inara asked, propped up on her elbow beside River. Normally she'd still be touching a client at this point, soft touches, to her hair, or running a hand over her belly, but normally her clients stayed behind when she moved on. Since River was flying the ship, it seemed prudent to demarcate more clearly.

"Yes," River said. "Very much more pleasant. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Inara said. "Do you want me to brush your hair before you leave?"

River hummed and rolled off the edge of the bed and padded unerringly to where Inara had left her brush. She perched next to Inara when she handed the brush to her, so it was easy to sit up and start running the bristles through her hair.

They passed a few more pleasant minutes like that, before the stiffness returned to River's spine. "Alliance patrol," she said. "They're coming." She dressed quickly and headed for the door before she paused. Then she moved through, without saying anything.

Inara dressed more slowly, knowing that River would take them away from any danger before it spotted them. Then she went to return Jayne's platinum. He reacted with less bluster than she'd expected -- it seemed he and River had become fast friends while she wasn't looking. When he called her a "Gorram brat, who don't know what's good for her," it was the fondest she'd ever heard him. Of course, then he asked how _she_ came by the platinum, and if his equilibrium had changed, his leer had not.

She hoped River wouldn't try to hire her with Jayne's stolen platinum again; she'd have to say no.

She'd have to say no, no matter whose money it was, but it would lend a certain level of farce to the thing if it was the same money, and she tried to avoid farce where she could. It was often impossible on this ship, but she did her best.

And today her best had been pretty damn good.


End file.
